In his reply, Mokoroa said they have volunteer police officers from Takitumu who were doing the patrolling until dawn.

“Our police are trying their best to prevent this problem,” he said.

“I would like to ask us all not to just depend on police, the parents should be teaching their children about the importance of wearing helmets when riding motorbikes.”

The law requires that anyone on a visitor’s licence, holders of overseas motorcycle licences, all 16 to 25-year-olds and every motorcyclist travelling above 40 kmh must wear a safety helmet. And that also applies to pillion passengers.

If you have a full Cook Islands licence, for both car and motorcycle and are above 25, then you do not.

In 2017, a number of young people were caught up in the judicial process, facing criminal conviction, for failing to pay the fines for not wearing helmet. A majority of them were school students.

However all of them were given a second chance, and an additional three weeks to pay their fines.